Loom.



PATENTBD NOY. l0, 1903.

' W. HOLUROFT.

. LOOM.

LAPPLIGATION FILED SEPT 9, 1902. RENEWED SEPT. 13. 190-3.

H0 MODEL.

UNiTEn STATES Patented November 10, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

LOOM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,723, dated November 10, 903. Application filed September 9, 1902. Renewed September 18, 1903. Serial No. 1 73.731. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, VVILLIAM HOLCROFT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chester, in the county of Delaware and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvemen ts in Looms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in looms; and the object of my invention is to furnish means for perfectly equalizing the tension upon the warp-threads during all the movements incident to the opening and closing of the shed. v

The warp-threads in a loom are stretched I very tightly, almost up to their breakingpoint in fact, and when they are further stretched by the heddles in order to form a ings, which move inward as the shed is op ening, so as to increase the operative length of the threads, and which move outward when the shed is closing, so as to decrease the operative length of the threads, sufficiently to equalize the tension upon them. In other words, to fully equalize the tension on the threads the equalizing device should hemoved only during the opening and closing of the shed. During the time that the shed is fully open or inlly closed the equalizing device should be idl If this were not the case, the

threads would be when the shedis closed unduly stretched and when theshed is fully opened unduly slackencd -In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which similar characters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 IS a diagrammatic sectional side elcvation'of at 100111 fitted with my improvement; Fig. 2, a front elevation of the whip-roller.

lessened.

a is the frame of the loom; b, the lay; a, the yarn -heam; d, the cloth-beam; f g, the

hedd les; 72., the main shaft, which drives connecting-rod 2', which operates the lays. All of these parts are of the usual construction and will not need detailed description.

j is a gearwheel carried on'shaft h, which gears with and drives a upon a shaft 1. I

m is a gear-wheel fast upon shaft Z, which gea-rwheel 75, fast meshes with and drives a gear-wheel a, fast upon a shaft 0, which is furnished with cranks 19, which drive connecting-rods 7", which are I connected to arms 8, pivoted to the frame a at t and which carry at their upper ends the whip-roller a. The gear-wheels m and n are so proportioned that the latter makes one complete revolution for each complete beat of the lay or sword I) or for each revolution of the main shaft h.

In the loom shown in the drawings the yarn passes from the yarn-beam 0 over the whip roller u, thence through the heddles; f g, through the head 'uof the lay I), over the takeup roller w tothe cloth-beam d. The warp-. yarns are, as usual, stretched very tightly, and the mechanism shown is so arranged that when the heddlesfg separate the warp-threads to open the shed for the passage of theshuttle the upper ends of the arms .9 and the whiproller are moved inward, thus slackening the threads by reducing the angle formed on their passage from the yarn-beam to the take up roller to an extent to compensate for the additional strain caused by the movements of the heddles. When the shed is closing, the

shaft o'and-crank p are in position to cause the 'rodr to move theupperend of levers s and whip-roller outward, thus tightening, of the hcddlesis' the threads as the-strain If the whip-roller were rocked back and 'forth with a reg: lar motioman undue tension would be put upon the warp-threads when the. shed 1S closed, and an undue slackening of the threads would occur-when the shed was opened. As the object of my inventionis to at all times maintain. anequal tension upon the threads, I rockthe Whip-roller intermittently-that is, when the shed is opening and complete the threads are being stretched by the'hed dlesI cause the whip-roller to move inwardly,

thus increasing the operative length of the threads; but'as soon as the shed is fully opened I arrest the motion of the whip-roller and do not move it again until the shed is once more in motion. The next movement of the shed is a closing one, and as soon as it commences I rock the whip-roller outward and continue this movement and the consequent tightening of the threads until the shed is fully closed, when I again arrest the movement of the whip-roller until the shed commences to open, when the whip roller commences to again move inward. By these movements I at all times maintain an equal tension upon the warp-threads.

In order to accomplish the above results, the gear 721 is an interrupted gear, so that the driving of the shaft 0 and crank 19 will only take place during the-opening or closing of the shed. During the time that the shed remains fullyopened or fully closed the gear 21, shaft 0, crank 19, and connected parts are at rest; but as soon as the shed commences to.

open or close the gear n commences to be driven by gear m .to rock ,the whip-roller in or out to lengthen or shorten the shed, as

- may be necessary to equalize the tension upon the threads, and this movement continues until the shed is fully opened or fully closed, when the teeth on the gear in leave the teeth on gear a, and the movement of this latter gear comes to a stop, which is insured by a pawl 1 engaginga detent 2 in the hub of gear n or by other suitablemeans. I

, In the drawings the lower ends of the arms .9 are shown furnished with slots cc to permit asliding attachmentto be made between them and the connecting-rods r, of which there are preferably two, one at each side of the machine.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to-secnre by Letters 'Patent 1. The combinationwith a loom, of means, driven from the main shaft, operating synchronously with the movements of the shed,

that is, following the movements of the warpthreads when opening and closing, and ceasing to move during the entire time that said threads are fully opened to form a shed for the passage of a shuttle or fully closed to permit the operation of the lay, for equalizing the tension upon the warp-threads.

2. The combination with a loom, of a whiproller over which the warp threads pass, means for carrying said whip-roller so that it may be rocked back and forth in the direction of the warp-threads, and mea. for rocking said roller inward during the opening of the shed, for rocking it outward during the closing of the shed, and for bringing it to a full step during the time that the shed is open for the passage of the shuttle or closed for the operation of the lay,said roekin g means being actuated positively in both directions from the main shaft of the loom.

3. The combination with a loom, of a roller extending across said loom and over which the Warp-threads pass, arms pivoted to the frame of the loom in one of the endsof which said roller is journaled, a connecting-rod oneend of which is secured to a crank and the other end of which is secured to said arms, said crank, and means, driven by the main shaft of the loom, for intermittently driving said crank.

4. The combination with a loom, of a whiproller, arms pivoted to the frame of the loom in which said roller is journaled, a crank adapted to make one revolution for each complete beat of the lay, a shaft upon which said crank is carried, a connecting-rod connecting said crank and arms, a gear-wheel upon said crank-shaft, an interrupted gear for driving said gear --wheel, and gears, driven by the main shaft of the loom for driving said interrupted gear.

W'ILLIAM IIO'LCROF'I.

\Vitnesses: l

Jos. A. ERNEST, J. Gnonon ESSLINGER. 

